From the things that make you go “huh” file

When I was working with the Coach and Learn program, which brought free basic computing classes to various locations around Tuolumne County, we often remarked on the number of people in our classes who had no computer experience at all. We thought it was an issue with rural areas generally and our county in particular. Turns out we were wrong.

Jakob Nielsen, of the Nielsen Norman Group, has just published a blog post titled The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think. His summary:

Across 33 rich countries, only 5% of the population has high computer-related abilities, and only a third of people can complete medium-complexity tasks.

For those engaged in building a website, either as a developer or a client, keeping this fact in mind is hugely important when considering the site’s users. It is almost certain that those working on such a project will have higher skills in using computers, the internet and technology in general than will their end users.

About the research

The study Jakob Nielsen refers to uses data collected between 2011-2015 in 33 countries and was published in 2016 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an association of industrialized countries. In total, 215,942 people were tested on 4 levels of computer proficiency. Here are some of the tasks that fell into each level, along with the population within that level:

“Below Level 1” = 14% of Adult Population
This is what people below level 1 can do: “Tasks are based on well-defined problems involving the use of only one function within a generic interface to meet one explicit criterion without any categorical or inferential reasoning, or transforming of information. Few steps are required and no sub-goal has to be generated.”

An example of a task at this level is “Delete this email message” in an email app.

Level 1 = 29% of Adult Population
This is what level-1 people can do: “Tasks typically require the use of widely available and familiar technology applications, such as email software or a web browser. There is little or no navigation required to access the information or commands required to solve the problem….Only simple forms of reasoning, such as assigning items to categories, are required; there is no need to contrast or integrate information.”

An example of a task at this level is “Find all emails from John Smith.”

Level 2 = 26% of Adult Population
This is what level-2 people can do: “At this level, tasks typically require the use of both generic and more specific technology applications. For instance, the respondent may have to make use of a novel online form. Some navigation across pages and applications is required to solve the problem….The goal of the problem may have to be defined by the respondent, though the criteria to be met are explicit….Some integration and inferential reasoning may be needed.”

An example of a level-2 task is “You want to find a sustainability-related document that was sent to you by John Smith in October last year.”

Level 3 = 5% of Adult Population
This is what level-3 people can do: “At this level, tasks typically require the use of both generic and more specific technology applications. Some navigation across pages and applications is required to solve the problem….The task may require evaluating the relevance and reliability of information in order to discard distractors. Integration and inferential reasoning may be needed to a large extent.”

An example of a level-3 task is “You want to know what percentage of the emails sent by John Smith last month were about sustainability.”

Can’t Use Computers = 26% of Adult Population

The numbers for the 4 skill levels don’t sum to 100% because a large proportion of the respondents never attempted the tasks, being unable to use computers. In total, across the OECD countries, 26% of adults were unable to use a computer.

That one quarter of the population can’t use a computer at all is the most serious element of the digital divide. To a great extent, this problem is caused by computers still being much too complicated for many people.

You can do more than your website visitors

If you’ve read this far, I think it’s safe to assume that you fall into the top category of computer skills. As you manage the design and content of your website, you must remember that 95% of the population can’t do what you can do. When you think that surely, people will be able to figure out how to perform a task on your website, you may very well be wrong. To recap from the blog post:

Level 1 skills are:

• Little or no navigation required to access the information or commands required to solve the problem
• Few steps and a minimal number of operators
• Problem resolution requiring the respondent to apply explicit criteria only (no implicit criteria)
• Few monitoring demands (e.g., having to check one’s progress toward the goal)
• Identifying content and operators done through simple match (no transformation or inferences needed)
• No need to contrast or integrate information

Anything more complicated, and your design can only be used by people with skills at level 2 or 3, meaning that you’re down to serving 31% of the population in the United States, 35% in Japan and the UK, 37% in Canada and Singapore, and 38% in Northern Europe and Australia. Again, the international variations don’t matter much relative to the big-picture conclusion: keep it extremely simple, or two thirds of the population can’t use your design.

Reference: OECD (2016), Skills Matter: Further Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, France.

Until next week...